Paulo Poccia: "The main aim is to stay up" | OneFootball

The coach of Unión's women's soccer team talked with La Doce, anticipating Unión's debut in the first division of Argentine soccer, which will take place in the first days of March.

Yes, indeed, we are already in the final stage, with about three weeks left, four if you count the week before the tournament starts. We signed 15 professional contracts, which is what AFA requires to participate, and the rest of the girls signed an agreement with the club to be on par with those 15 players. We believe that with the path we're on, we'll be able to compete in the first division this year and maintain our category, ensuring this lasts over time.

Yes, we lost an assistant coach. Meli is returning to the field because she needed to close her cycle as a player. She now has a quadriceps strain, so she's recovering, but she went from being an assistant coach to a player again.

No, I think this year the main goal is to maintain the category because there's a big difference between B and A. Most teams are 100% professional, meaning they don't have to do another job, and you can see the physical difference in terms of the players' structure; they're athletes, so that's the difference. But I think, based on what we've seen and analyzed about the teams, that Unión will surely be among the top eight if we adjust a few things we've been working on.

You have at least four, River, Boca, Talleres, and Belgrano, who are a bit above the rest. Racing is also among those five that are always at the top and make a difference, but the difference also comes with the facilities for training, budget issues, and that topic. There's a strong investment in those clubs.

Yes, indeed, there's a structure completely similar to the men's but with the women's, from the sports director to the last equipment manager.

Yes, it's historic like that moment in 2023 when we participated for the first time, that promotion, then in 2024 we had a pretty tough year in terms of the final result, which was that semifinal with Estudiantes.

In 2025 we prepared to see if that promotion was achieved, and when we got promoted, everyone started to arrive, players wanting to come to Unión, and the teams that also achieved that promotion, generally from the interior, would say you can't maintain the structure because the base players aren't qualified, and I would say yes. So if everything goes well, we'll be the first team to maintain the base from 2023, the C in the A, keep the category, and have a good result, we'll be the first team in history.

Yes, no, no, no, today we have a little school at Unión, girls as young as three who already want to participate, four, five, six. The other day we went on Monday and Tuesday to San Jerónimo, in Libertad, doing a preseason, and then on Tuesday afternoon, we had a friendly match with them, and the little girls aged 9, 8 asked for autographs and photos, so it's going to grow. And being Unión the only one in the city of Santa Fe participating in AFA, it should be a model, an example beyond the club one supports.

Lately, we're seeing more women in the First Division, but yes, there are still male coaches, it's not 100% yet that women start studying to be head coaches.

They had to take the course, it's true because they have to graduate at some point, to be able to work as a coach they need to have the course. Yes, they have an A license, it's three years, and now they're also requiring it.

No, they're different, each license has a certain age limit you can coach, the A is up to the third division, and then you need the Pro license to coach internationally, like in the Sudamericana or Libertadores, for which you need to have a minimum two-year contract with a club.

Our team is the youngest, let's say. It has an average age of 24.

We are 16 teams, there are two long tournaments of 15 matches. Starting from the Clausura, the location changes in the Clausura. There's a spot for the Libertadores, but it might open up to two this year, depending on how it goes. The champion for sure? The champion for sure, but if there are two different champions, a super final is held to see who goes to the Libertadores. And if an extra spot opens, the two champions vary the cup. And the relegation is without average, the last two teams in the general table are relegated.

The idea is to televise all the matches in the same format as the men's reserve. Through the platform, yes. And there are one or two matches that are televised on TV.

There are still some issues regarding the players' salaries, which I think is something that AFA also needs to address differently. Because the salary table that AFA or Agremiados provides is not something that needs updating so that the girls can dedicate themselves 100% to soccer.

Yes, Martino Petitti returned, who was the assistant I always had since I started in 2021 in the men's, in Candioti.

And he returned, who was occupying another position, and returned again to be an assistant coach. Well, now with this AFA women's, Unión, and this huge challenge they have ahead.

The idea was to continue in the league, but well, I think the timing might not have helped. And we didn't want the club, let's say, Mitre, the idea was for us to continue, but we didn't want to play that game of what do we do if at some point it overlaps? So they decided on another option that was there in the club.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.